Design of the ITER vacuum vessel

Abstract

The ITER vacuum vessel is a major safety barrier and must support electromagnetic loads during plasma disruptions and vertical displacement events (VDE) and withstand plausible accidents without losing confinement. The vacuum vessel has a double wall structure to provide structural and electrical continuity in the toroidal direction. The inner and outer shells and poloidal stiffening ribs between them are joined by welding, which gives the vessel the required mechanical strength. The space between the shells will be filled with steel balls and plate inserts to provide additional nuclear shielding. Water flowing in this space is required to remove nuclear heat deposition, which is 0.2—2.5% of the total fusion power. The minor and major radii of the tokamak are 3.9 m and 13 m respectively, and the overall height is 15 m. The total thickness of the vessel wall structure is 0.4−0.7 m. The inboard and outboard blanket segments are supported from the vacuum vessel. The support structure is required to withstand a large total vertical force of 200–300 MN due to VDE and to allow for differential thermal expansion. The first candidate for the vacuum vessel material is Inconel 625, due to its higher electric resistivity and higher yield strength, even at high temperatures. Type 316 stainless steel is also considered a vacuum vessel material candidate, owing to its large database and because it is supported by more conventional fabrication technology.